Flint, Michigan Auto Industry - Plant History - Chevrolet Motor Division

Chevrolet Motor Division

Flint Manufacturing Div./Delphi Flint West/Flint Tool and Die

The plant opened on Chevrolet Avenue about 1913, comprising the Motor Division (engine-assembly and engine-parts plants) and the Pressed Metal Division (parts plants) and the pre-World War II Chevrolet Assembly (Plant Two) and Fisher Body #2 plants (later Chevrolet Plant 2A).

In 1984, due to smaller sales of four-cylinder engines, the Chevrolet Flint Motor Plant (Plant Four) closed after millions of dollars in improvements several years earlier. The same year, the newly-created Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada Group briefly took over Chevrolet Manufacturing from Chevrolet Motor Division; soon, the newly-formed Fisher Guide Division acquired the complex. Around 1987, the Chevrolet plant was taken over by AC Spark Plug and became AC Spark Plug Flint West. In 1988 it became AC Rochester Flint West, and in 1994 AC Delco Systems Flint West. In early 1995, it was renamed Delphi Flint West.

Around this time, the plant complex (known as "Chevy in the Hole") began to disappear. Among the first plants to go were the truck garage, Plant 5 (formerly Engine Parts) and the administration building. This continued until 2004, when Plant Four (which had reopened some years after it initially closed in 1984) shut down and was demolished. Plant Four's last products were generators and fuel filters.

The only remaining buildings are Building 35 and Plant 38. Building 35 (originally housing new-car delivery and, later, heat treatment) was donated to Kettering University (originally General Motors Institute) in 1996. After the addition of another floor and a new facade, it houses the university's Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry Center. Workers in Building 35 built the first Corvette prototype, around 1953. Plant 38 (the Die and Engineering Center) opened in 1967, is still operated by GM and is known as Flint Tool and Die, with a small sign on Stevenson Street. According to GM’s website, at Flint Tool and Die there are 228 hourly and 25 salaried workers.

Flint Assembly Division/Flint Truck Assembly

Opened on Van Slyke Road in 1947 for car and truck assembly, in 1970 Chevrolet Assembly converted to truck-only production and GM created the Truck and Bus Group in 1981. The GM Assembly Division then transferred the Chevrolet Flint Assembly plant to Truck and Bus, which was later renamed North American Truck Platforms and then the GM Truck Group.

Now known as Flint Assembly, it remains an important operation for GM; it builds Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC TopKick commercial trucks, and Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks. In December 2004, GM announced it would invest $150 million into retooling at this plant. After a maximum of at least 8,000 workers at Fisher 2 and Chevrolet Assembly, 1,862 hourly and 185 salaried employees work there. Events at this plant during the late 1970s are chronicled in Ben Hamper's 1991 book Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line.

Flint Frame and Stamping Plant/Flint Metal Center

On Bristol Road, it opened in 1954. Operated by the Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada Group from 1984 to 1992 and eventually by the Metal Fabricating Division, the plant is now known as the GM Flint Metal Center. GM has spent over $60 million upgrading the plant in recent years. 2,000 hourly and 180 salaried workers are there today.

Flint V8 Engine Plant/Flint Engine South

On Van Slyke Road, it opened around 1953, closed around 1999 and was soon demolished. Immediately south of it, GM built the $500 million Flint Engine South (now known as Flint Engine Operations) to build the Atlas L6 Engine plant which opened in 2000. A $300 million addition, recently opened, builds the High Feature V6 engine engines.

National Parts Distribution/Service Parts Operations

On Bristol Road in Swartz Creek, it opened in 1957. It merged with other car divisions' parts operations in 1969 and was renamed the GM Parts Division (later Warehousing and Distribution). During the late 1990s, GM's worldwide parts purchasing and distribution office headquarters moved from here to a new building in Grand Blanc Township. Known as Service Parts Operations-Flint, the Swartz Creek facility remains open with a large amount of vacant office space. Currently, 595 hourly and 70 salaried workers are employed at SPO Flint. Recently, a new processing/packaging center has opened on Davison Road in Burton, in a former AC Spark Plug (later Delphi) plant.